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Obama and Big Tech Companies to Push Coding Event for Students

A Seattle public middle school pilot has tested Code.org's computer science curriculum.Credit

Computer code is something most people enjoy the benefits of without ever laying their eyes on it. But this week, it will be hard for students to avoid calls for them to learn how to program.

A promotional blitz this week for an education event called Hour of Code will feature video statements from President Obama and Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, calling on students to learn how to write code. The home pages for Google, Yahoo, Apple, Microsoft‘s Bing and Disney will promote the event.

Every major Apple store on the United States will host code education events on Dec. 11 at 5 p.m., and Microsoft will host similar events at 51 Microsoft retail stores in the United States from Dec. 9 to 15.

Hour of Code, which coincides with Computer Science Education Week, is organized by a nonprofit organization called Code.org, which is seeking to get more students interested in programming. It has the support of nearly all the major technology companies, which say they need a stronger pipeline of engineers to supply the industry with the talent it needs to thrive.

Code.org said 33,000 classrooms in 167 countries, amounting to more than five million students, will take part in the Hour of Code, through which they will learn one hour of computer science.